Matt Largey

Managing Editor

Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon

Matt has been a reporter at KUT off and on since 2006. He came to Austin from Boston, then went back for a while--but couldn't stand to be away--so he came back to Austin. Matt grew up in Maine (but hates lobster), and while it might sound hard to believe, he thinks Maine and Texas are remarkably similar.

The Associated Press is reporting the head of Formula One is giving local race organizers another week to reach a deal on a 2012 race at the Circuit of the Americas track in southeast Travis County.

The AP quotes F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone as saying "the deadline hasn't been met so we are still trying to make it happen ... they need to get some money and a pen." He went on to say "if it isn't all signed before the World Motor Sport Council meeting (the race) can't happen."

The Austin Film Festival has announced the winners of its Audience Awards for the festival that wrapped up last week.

“There is no greater reward for a filmmaker than an Audience Award, which confirms their ability to tell a good story," AFF programmers Stephen Jannise and Stephen Belyeu in a press release. "Every filmmaker is a storyteller at heart, and you can’t receive better validation than the approval of your audience."

Austin-based writer/director Jeremiah Jones won the Audience Award in the narrative feature competition. KUT News interviewed Jones before the festival. You can hear that interview below.

The current budget standoff in D.C. has some serious implications for disaster relief efforts here in Central Texas. As lawmakers scramble to find a short term fix, one thing is becoming clear: If FEMA doesn't receive new funding, aid work will cease.

Texas Tea Party activists are trying to pressure Governor Perry to toughen his stance on illegal immigration. At a press conference today inside the State Capitol, several groups issued an open letter Rick Perry, demanding he call a special legislative session to pass a ban on so-called “sanctuary cities.”

The bill explicitly prohibits local police agencies from telling officers they can’t check the immigration status of a suspect. Supporters of the legislation sense a new vulnerability in Perry, who is now seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

"The folks sitting here, looking around, they look like they're kind of in shock. Obviously this is a difficult situation for them. They look exactly as you'd expect somebody to look like, who's just had to flee their home because of a wildfire."

Bastrop Middle School is one of several shelters set up for Bastrop County residents who've been forced to evacuate.

Citing falling lake levels amid the driest nine-month period in state history, the chair of the Texas Senate's Natural Resources Committee is calling on the Lower Colorado River Authority to take emergency actions that would suspend the release of water from the Highland Lakes for interruptible customers downstream.

A new study co-authored by a University of Texas at Austin psychologist finds sexually active teenagers in romantic relationships are less likely to exhibit anti-social behavior than their peers who have casual sex.

Austin City Council got some surprises at a budget meeting today, both pleasant ones for the city’s fiscal outlook.

City budget officers told the Council it underestimated how high the city’s property tax rate could be under the rollback rate. That means the city will be able to raise taxes higher then once believed without having to get voter approval.

If City Council chooses to raise property taxes to the new rollback rate, it would generate an additional $1.6 million in revenue.

The quasi-state agency that operates the Texas electric grid is reviving several old power plants to help avoid more power emergencies amid continued triple-digit temperatures.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas nearly ran short of power on four days in one week earlier this month. It was forced to declare power emergencies those days, and on one occasion took some industrial customers offline temporarily to avoid the need for rolling blackouts.

TV satirist Stephen Colbert's political action committee is out with it's first ad, taking aim at Governor Rick Perry, ahead of this weekend's Iowa Straw Poll.

In the video, Colbert's "super" PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing a candidate, urges Iowa Republicans to write in the name "Rick Parry" on their straw poll ballots.

"That's Parry with an 'A' for America. With an 'A' for Iowa," the ad says.

Jury selection starts in San Angelo today in the sexual assault trial of polygamist religious leader Warren Jeffs. Jury selection in the high profile case is expected to be difficult, since few people in the town are unfamiliar with the case. If convicted, Jeffs faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for sexual assault of one child and aggravated sexual assault of another. He will face bigamy charges in a separate case in October.